Kicking on: Jack defies the odds to reach 250 games with Swans

When Kieren Jack was starting out, it was not unusual for him to be running along the centre square of the SCG practising his kicking.

Jack kicked the ball around corners. He had a "hook foot" – the product of growing up in a rugby league environment.

Hooking in: Kieren Jack plays his 250th game for Sydney this week, one of only nine Swans to reach the milestone.Credit:AAP

Jack could kick but he was not up to the level needed to make it in his chosen profession. So he spent long hours with then assistant coaches Peter Jonas and Brett Allison to "fast track my kicking to get to the level where some of the other boys were".

"I'm still working on it, mind you. I got it up to a level where it was consistent," Jack said.

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Part of Jack's problem – and it's not a bad one to have – was he kept finding the ball; but it also meant he kept turning it over.

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So what relevance is the centre square? Allison would have Jack running along the line and kicking. If his leg was not aligned to the square then he was not kicking in a straight line.

"We needed to straighten him, to not get him to veer out, to get him where he needed to go," Allison said.

"A lot of hip straightening, a lot of getting his leg to go in a straight line. He's still got a slight bit in it but it's far better than he used to be."

Allison now rates as him as a "reliable" kick.

"When he started he was unreliable, that was what was holding him back. He'd get a lot of it but he'd miss the target or it would get back into the opposition hands. He worked hard on it after every training session."

That work ethic and discipline is one of the reasons why Jack will on Saturday become just the ninth man to play 250 games for the Swans.

Jack said it would have been a "wild, wild dream" back when he was drafted as a rookie in 2005 that he would have such a long and successful career.

"You'd be hard pressed to find a coach, recruiter who would have thought I would have played more than five games back then," Jack said.

"I was small in stature, still small now, back pocket was pretty much where I was limited. I could defend well, I could tackle but I couldn't really kick."

He has turned out to be much more than a "back pocket plumber", the term that legendary coach Tom Hafey used to describe Kevin Sheedy.

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The former Swans captain's career has been high in quantity and quality. Any player would take his CV, which includes a best and fairest, All Australian selection and a premiership.

His goal in the 2012 grand final, described by Bruce McAvaney as a "dead set massive moment", was crucial in the Swans' late charge.

Jack said the turning point in his career came in his third preseason when "things started to click". Former coach Paul Roos was using him as a midfield tagger. Jason Akermanis was one of his first opponents.

Chris Judd, Gary Ablett and Ben Cousins would all cop Jack's close checking. In time, Jack would become a player targeted by taggers.

In his prime years from 2012-2015, Jack was one of the competition's best midfielders, and part of one of the best on-ball brigades in the game.

Age and injuries are catching up with Jack but his experience and know-how makes him an important member of a Swans side in a transitional phase.

"I've certainly got some challenges for the rest of my career now. I think there's still an ability to perform a role and make sure I manage it well," Jack, who has been dogged by hip and knee injuries the past two seasons, said.

"I've trained pretty hard the last two months. I got going really slow after the knee operation, which was a little unexpected. I feel fit and strong.

"One thing I was able to do was a lot of gym work to strengthen up my legs and hips. Fingers crossed, I can hold on."